TV Ratings: 'Charlie Brown' Special Remains Evergreen for ABC

Courtesy Everett Collection

'It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown'

Steady with last fall, it beat most other original offerings on broadcast TV

ABC's rights deal with Peanuts Worldwide LLC is the gift that keeps on giving for the network. Nearly 50 years after its original premiere, and having aired annually on the alphabet network since 2001, It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown remains a ratings force to be reckoned with.

Wednesday night's airing of the half-hour cartoon, the first of several over the upcoming holiday season, averaged a 2.1 rating among adults 18-49 and 6.3 million viewers. It helped ABC tie CBS for a nightly demo victory — and, on its own, the special, steady with last fall, beat most other original offerings on broadcast TV.

The network had three originals following Charlie Brown (and 8 p.m. outing Toy Story of Terror). Modern Family (3.3 adults) topped the night, albeit down two-tenths of a point from the previous episode. Black-ish (2.5 adults) was off three-tenths of a point, and Nashville (1.3 adults) was down by two-tenths.

Over on CBS, Survivor (2.5 adults) was off two-tenths of a point ahead of steady outings of Criminal Minds (2.4 adults) and Stalker (1.7 adults).

The Mysteries of Laura was steady again with a 1.3 rating among adults 18-49, and Law & Order: SVU (1.7 adults) and Chicago P.D. (1.6 adults) were both in line with last week as well.

Hell's Kitchen (1.2 adults) was down two-tenths of a point from the previous episode on Fox, but the slightly smaller lead-in did not bring down Red Band Society. The freshman drama has been quite consistent in the 0.9 range.

Arrow took a 20 percent hit from last week's season premiere on The CW, averaging a 0.8 rating with adults 18-49.